


Lessons with the Fire Tribe

by AParticularlyLargeBear



Series: Lessons [12]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Attraction, Awkward Flirting, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 20:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12175815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AParticularlyLargeBear/pseuds/AParticularlyLargeBear
Summary: Kjelle and Rinkah try to discuss the Fire Tribe's future plans.





	Lessons with the Fire Tribe

There were not many things quite as simultaneously dull and exhausting as digging a trench.

"Kono."

Straightening up, Kjelle— _Kono_ wiped her sweat-soaked brow. Strands of pale blonde hair were plastered to her head, perspiration dripping down and stinging her eyes. Plegian heat, she could handle, it was in her genes. The choking, stifling inferno of Fire Tribe territory was beyond her.

Kjelle took a breath, forced herself to make it slow. "What's up, Rinkah?"

The chieftain's daughter gave her a once over and then grinned, mocking her suffering with just her eyes.

Kjelle raised a weary eyebrow. She'd known Rinkah long enough now to know that she wouldn't come over just to make fun of her. That competitive, ahem, fire, was just part of her personality.

"Father's given me an assignment," the smile suddenly died. "Come with?"

Still rubbing her brow, Kjelle nodded. Not that she was looking for an excuse to get out of digging duty, but she wasn't going to _complain_ about it. They'd been at this for weeks now, and the project to improve the tribe's defences was still in its fledgling stages. Frustrating to be involved in; Kjelle had plenty of ideas and experience to offer, yet was unable to volunteer them except in the most subtle terms. Kjelle was a veteran of two wars.  _Kono_ was not.

She impaled her shovel in the hard-packed dirt and set off after Rinkah, who was already a couple metres ahead of her. It wasn't in Rinkah's nature to wait around.

Kjelle liked Rinkah, and was constantly chiding herself for it. Her goal here was to be inconspicuous and watch over a dragon child. Kjelle had neither found the dragon child nor was being very successful at keeping a low profile, what with befriending the heir to an entire tribe. She supposed she was doing a decent-ish job of fitting in, but Kjelle highly doubted she would have been welcomed so readily if not for Rinkah.

Rinkah was amongst the first people Kjelle had met in this strange country, and the first that hadn't been attempting to murder her. Brigands, apparently, existed even in other worlds, and were all too willing to accost a lone woman. Rinkah had really pulled her ass out of the—had really saved her hide there. Kjelle was a capable fighter, but there had been six of them and one of her, and the studded club she'd been using was new to her too.

Kjelle's mother sometimes said that you only really knew someone once you'd fought alongside them in battle. In that regard, Kjelle had got to know Rinkah very very quickly.

A fierce fighter. Aggressive and powerful. No subtlety, some skill, a whole lot of strength.

She'd given Kjelle a huge grin as the bandits fled with their wounded.

_"Not bad at all. Name's Rinkah. You?"_

That was when Kono had been born.

Kono. A wanderer. A woman without a country or a family. She hailed from nowhere in particular, scraping a living by hiring out her physical abilities, be it labour or a swordarm. Not the kind of person who invited trust, but the perfect kind of person to avoid leaving too much of a footprint.

In theory.

Rinkah had taken a shine to the story and the persona (which is fairness was pretty much just Kjelle), and asked her along. Needing someone to help her with the lay of the land, Kjelle had agreed, intending on getting as much information as she could before striking out on her own.

Over four years later, and here Kjelle continued to stay.

The problem was the others. The idea was simple; two countries, eight people. That made it a two way split, four of them for each country.

In. Theory.

In practice, too many strange newcomers asking too many questions in a short space of time was liable to arouse suspicion, and in the end, Kjelle had volunteered to be one of the ones to take the hit. She wasn't good with words and she wasn't good at subtle; it made her a natural choice to warm the bench, along with her brother, who'd been far less agreeable to the prospect. Morgan didn't like being left out, but he was also utterly terrible at keeping secrets.

Once, leading up to Kjelle's birthday, Morgan had managed to let the surprise party slip not one but three times. He hadn't even noticed on two of those occasions. That kind of thing was why she loved him, and as grumpy as he'd been about being separated from the others, he'd come around eventually. Morgan was smart like that, if scatterbrained.

Kjelle missed him. She hadn't seen her brother—or any of them—in her entire time here, and she'd only received letters on a handful of occasions. Prudent, given they were trying to be undercover, but very lonely. It was uncomfortably close to how things had been before Kjelle had found the Shepherds, back in her own world (if not her own time). Kjelle, much to her own consternation, had started treating her parents like a real family, rather than people who were very much like but _not_ her parents. Even when that timeline's Kjelle had been born, she'd wound up feeling more like an older sister to her than anything else. It had never been part of the deal, for Kjelle and the others grow attached to those they'd risked everything to save, and yet it had happened anyway. Maybe it was to be expected; Kjelle and the others had never had the opportunity for real childhoods, and even the coldest and most closed-off of their group couldn't help but warm to the younger versions of their parents. 

Now, Kjelle just felt isolated again. If not for Rinkah, then she didn't know if she'd have been able to stand it.

Unfortunately, as good company as she was, Rinkah wasn't much for international news. Supposedly the hulking monsters that they had to clear out every so often originated from the neighbouring country of Nohr, and that was about the extent of it. Kjelle heard almost nothing about the other bordering country, Hoshido, and the Fire Tribe were ostensibly allied with them.

Or... had some kind of agreement at the very least. Kjelle wasn't firm on the details.

Now some way away from the trench, Rinkah twisted back ahead of her, walking backwards without breaking stride.

"My father wants to send an envoy to Hoshido. I'm going."

Rinkah wasn't very good at keeping her emotions hidden; she didn't like the sound of that.

Almost as little as Kjelle did. She was an outsider here, and although her strength had won her some respect, the Fire Tribe didn't consider her one of their own. Maybe never would.

Kjelle kept her face stoic. "I see. Soon?"

Rinkah nodded, and then grinned wryly. "You're always so serious, Kono. Ever thought about relaxing now and then?"

"I've considered it," Kjelle, in spite of the bad news, found her the corners of her mouth quirking up, ever so slightly.

 "Anyway, I want you to come with me."

Kjelle stopped short, caught completely off guard. "Me?"

"No, the other Kono. Yeah you, dumbass."

"Right... but why?" Kjelle didn't want to complain, but she disliked not knowing the reasons.

"Cause if my father's gonna insist on an escort, I'm gonna insist on it being a friend."

Kjelle fell silent. She couldn't think of quite how to respond. Words had never been allies of hers, slipping through her fingers every time she tried to grasp them. She had her mothers to thank for that. One was exuberant and energetic, but hardly eloquent. The other was probably the smartest person Kjelle knew and yet utterly antisocial.

"Thanks," she settled on, eventually.

Rinkah snorted into a laugh. "That's so you, Kono. 'I trust you with my life!', 'Oh okay,'."

"That's not what you said. Or what I said."

"Escorts guard people, Kono. You do know what an escort is, right?"

"I don't know if I can be trusted to do that."

Rinkah gave her a speculative look, cocking an eyebrow.

"You're annoying. I might dump you on your head."

"Hah!" Rinkah turned, beginning to walk forwards again. "This is why I want you to come. I don't need an honour guard. I do need a friend."

Kjelle found herself considering the idea. Travelling with Rinkah was the perfect excuse to collect information in Hoshido, and nobody would have any reason to get suspicious of an envoy's retinue asking around. "Your father won't mind? I'm not Fire Tribe."

Saying it aloud hurt more than it should have done.

"I don't care. It's not his decision," Rinkah glanced back at her, a defiant glint in her eye. "And even if it was, I'd tell him I wanted you."

Kjelle couldn't help but smile. Properly this time. "I'd be honoured."

"There's another reason, too," Rinkah looked away, fidgeting with her headdress a moment.

Kjelle cocked her head to one side.

"I'd like to spend more time with you. Alone."

Hold on, what?

"I... excuse me?" Kjelle blinked rapidly. Did Rinkah just—there was no possible way that meant what it sounded like it meant.

Rinkah blinked too, and then her cheeks rapidly darkened. "Wait, no. That came out wrong," she started twisting her hands around one another, interlocking her fingers. She looked as though she was trying to crush her embarrassment between her palms.

Kjelle felt her own face start to redden too. "Mind, uh, mind rephrasing that, maybe?"

"Yeah. Uh. Yeah. Let's try that again," Rinkah huffed and shook her head, expression sobering, though the blush barely faded. "We've been friends for years now and sometimes it still feels like I barely know you. I want to change that, and this seems as good a chance as any."

That was much, much less awkward, though it sparked a twinge of guilt in Kjelle's gut that she'd never truly been honest with Rinkah.

"All right. That sounds like a deal."

Rinkah beamed and held up her hand. Kjelle clasped it, and Rinkah tugged in response. Kjelle pulled back, and they wrestled for a moment, a Fire Tribe quirk it had taken her some time to get used to. The first time Rinkah had done it, she'd nearly jerked Kjelle off her feet.

"Great! Let's show the Hoshidans what our Tribe's about," Rinkah made a face. "...After I tell my father that you're coming.. Hope you're ready to fight him for it."

Kjelle would have laughed, but she wasn't entirely certain it was a joke.

They set off again together. "It's gonna be good to have you along, Kono."

As Rinkah's hand settled companionably on Kjelle's bare shoulder, the heat she felt was not entirely due to the stifling climate.


End file.
